Soulgazer, Maggie Rapier (Review by Sara D’Onofrio)
Rating: 4.0/5 Stars
As per any good Fantasy novel, I spent about 40% of the book confused, but thankfully, there was one thing I was never once confused about…. my love for Faolin. Oh my stars, he was perfect. I loved his humor, his sarcasm, his devotion, his gentle side, and oh boy, his protectiveness. It was the epitome of a slow burn, but for once, I wasn’t frustrated by it. I felt like the author wrote Faolin and Saoirse’s story so perfectly that I couldn’t imagine the timeline being any different. It was natural, real, and felt so very genuine. Their connection is what carried me through the whole book. I truly enjoyed Saoirse as a female main character as well. It was beautiful to see her let her guard down and grow in her confidence level. Clearly Faolin helped with that, but I think the crew did as well and I would have like to see more of that. Lately, I have learned how much I rely on supporting characters to also help me fall in love with a book, but by the end, I really didn’t feel a strong connection to any other characters. I think we could have seen more banter with the crew, or more back stories about their bond and friendships. Obviously, the author has set it up that a second book will be coming, and maybe we will see more of that in book #2; however, I think more connections would have left me feeling more excited for the next part of their story. I do want to touch on the confused comment I said as well. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found myself needing to know what was coming next, but I would have made it through even faster if I didn’t have to reread things several times. I do think there was potential for the author to explain things a little more clearly. Even after rereading paragraphs/pages, there were times I STILL didn’t understand and just had to move on hoping it would make sense later. I will absolutely read book #2, but I hope that she really goes in even deeper with the characters, connections, and explanations!